It would be a wagon train indeed. Not only was their group going, but also when it became known that Percy was leading the trip, many of the other communities and individuals asked to join the group. They were providing their own supplies, but wanted to travel with a large group. Percy sighed and agreed when Howard and Claudia approached him with the idea.
“We knew a lot of people wanted to go, and planned more than one trip, but a large group, while there are problems with it, will get more people there faster and more safely than two or three small groups. It also doesn’t strain us helping nearly as much either,” Claudia said.
“One of the biggest problems,” she continued, “is safe drinking water. And our purification system is more than capable of handling the larger group. It was really overkill for just a hundred sixty odd people, but it is the smallest unit we have. It’ll handle the daily needs of at least a thousand. Still a bit overkill for the five hundred or so that looks like will be going.”
“Five hundred!” Percy exclaimed. The idea gave him shivers. It turned out that there would only be four hundred eighty-nine. Percy still shivered when he heard the number.
Most would be taking handcarts of some type on the trip. Some would be walking with backpacks. A few had cars and enough gasoline to go that far. Several from the town were taking the cars that had been converted to run on alcohol. Percy would be taking the tank trailer with a split load. Diesel, gasoline, and alcohol.
In addition to the fuel tank trailer, the Kenworth tractor would be pulling a second trailer with a fifth wheel dolly. It was one of the reefers, to keep food fresh on the trip. It would save on time since they would not have to wait for much of the food to be dried. They’d be able to leave in late June.
Three of the Unimogs would go on the trip, as would the pickup with the bed shell. Percy was leaving behind the Suburban. He was taking the Kenworth based motorhome he referred to as The Beast. It would be towing a box trailer on a fifth wheel dolly. It would carry much of the other supplies that needed to go. Behind the box trailer would be the barge trailer.
Also going would be the Kenworth service truck. It would be towing a second box trailer on a fifth wheel dolly, with more equipment and supplies. It, like the Kenworth Tractor, would pull a second trailer, also on a fifth wheel dolly. It was the flatbed.
The flatbed would carry equipment too, mostly camp gear, which the military had agreed to furnish since there were so many going, including twenty soldiers instead of ten. Since their rate of speed would not be high, the flatbed trailer would be equipped so people could ride on it. Most of the people that didn’t have horse drawn wagons or operable cars would be walking, though it was expected that those with vehicles with space would make arrangements to carry as many people as possible.
As for the military detachment, there would be a Lieutenant in charge, as before, but there would be an additional sergeant and two corporals in the small command making twenty-four in all. The detachment was set up as four squads, each led by a platoon sergeant, with a corporal, and two private-first-class soldiers. They’d have five Hummers, each pulling a trailer. Two of the trailers would be fuel trailers.
Though they had the military Hummers, Percy decided to take the Indian with its sidecar to use for scouting, along with two of the Rokon’s.
Each of the three Unimogs would be pulling trailers. One Unimog would go with a flat bed, loaded with equipment, with front-end bucket attached. It pulled a trailer carrying several potentially useful implements useable by any of the Unimogs. The implements included the backhoe and a dozer blade, among several others.
Another Unimog was also equipped with a flatbed. It carried equipment on the bed and towed an equipment trailer to carry the pickup, Indian, and the Rokon’s. The third Unimog was equipped with a box bed to carry the equipment for Percy’s group, and would have a large flatbed trailer that carried yet more supplies and equipment.
In addition to the horses being ridden and pulling wagons, there were at least another twenty that would be herded along. Besides the horses, three bulls, and thirty head of cattle, mostly heifers, were going with some of the farmers. There were several pigs going, but they were all being transported in wagons or trailers.
With people walking, and the stock, Percy figured they’d be able to average ten miles a day. They expected to travel almost seven hundred miles. It would take over two months. The trip back was expected to take less than two weeks.
“Place looks like pictures of Independence, Missouri when it was one of the departure places for the westward migration,” Howard told Percy as they walked through the bustling town. It was bustling because of the dozens of families and large number of individuals preparing to head south toward the outskirts of Memphis, Tennessee, which was now a port city on Memphis Bay of the Gulf of Mexico.
“And I feel like Ward Bond in a bad episode of Wagon Train. If there ever was one. This is not quite what I expected when I agreed to do this.”
“You’ll do fine, Sweetie,” Sara told him. She was walking along side him, her arm linked with his as they checked the various voyagers’ sets of equipment.
“Some of these people are not going to get there with what they started with,” Percy said.
Claudia, walking with them, chuckled and said. “I thought you watched Wagon Train. Of course some of them won’t make it with what they started with. And I bet hard cash that a few drop out before you get there, but that you’ll wind up gaining a few on the trip.”
Her smile faded when she added, “And the condition of a few of them… you may lose a couple, too.”
“I know,” Percy said. “It would be nice if Jock could go, but he and Melissa are both needed here. I want things set up to have a real clinic and at least a makeshift hospital before winter hits. And they’ll be overseeing the new homes going in on the estate.”
Many of those staying behind would be stripping the town of everything useful, including dismantling many of the buildings. The materials would be used to build housing on the estate property east of the barns.
Though not domes, all the new structures would be earth sheltered. There was plenty of material to build the walls heavy enough to carry roofs heavy enough to carry the earth they would be covered with. They would be rather smaller than what would have been built before the war and climate changes, to make them easy to keep heated in the harsh winter.
There were five compounds planned, each a large U shape, almost rectangular, with a central courtyard area that the dwelling spaces would face. Each of the dwellings would house four people easily. Larger families would use two units. There were to be ten dwellings in each compound and four units that could be used for storage and for cottage industry.
Like Percy’s dome structures, the earth roofs would boast walled patios over the entire U, providing much additional space. There would be a gap in the nearly closed U to allow access to the courtyard. The compounds would be side by side, the closed ends of the U’s facing the north and the open end the south.
A sixth compound, similar in construction would be used to house animals. Again, like Percy’s compound, a tunnel would connect the individual compounds, though it would not be built by the simple expedient of setting sections of pedestrian underpass into place in a trench.
Instead, a slightly tapered tube would be constructed of planking and sheet metal, on top of a sheet of plastic. The resulting pipe would be six feet high, five feet wide at the bottom and four feet wide at the top. The sheet of plastic would then be wrapped up and over the pipe and the trench backfilled.
Only two of the housing compounds and the animal compound would be built that summer.